JPH042189B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Technical Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrophotographic apparatus based on electrostatic photography.

TECHNICAL BACKGROUND AND PROBLEMS An example of an electrophotographic apparatus based on a commonly used electrostatic photography method will be described with reference to FIG. First, a photoreceptor drum 1 is provided, which is made of aluminum as a base material and has a photoreceptor layer laminated on its surface. connected to a drive device. In this way, the charging section 2, the exposing section 3, the developing section 4, the transferring section 5, the cleaning section 6, and the static eliminating section 7 are arranged in sequence on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 in the direction of rotation thereof.

The charging section 2 is composed of a corona discharge charger 8, which constantly applies a high voltage of +5 to 6 kV to a tungsten wire having a diameter of 50 to 60 μm.
A local portion of the surface of the photoreceptor drum 1 is charged to approximately +400V.

Next, the exposure section 3 has an optical shutter array 9.
It consists of a light source 10 that is a fluorescent lamp. This optical shutter array 9 utilizes an array of high-speed switching elements made of liquid crystal, transparent porcelain, iron garnet, or the like. Further, as the exposure section 2, an array in which light emitting diodes are arranged in a straight line at high density (for example, 10 diodes/mm) may be used. If an image signal voltage is applied to each element of the array, only the light-receiving point on the photosensitive surface will be exposed, and the surface potential of the photosensitive surface will rapidly drop from about +400V to about +20V, and the potential difference with the unexposed area will increase. At 380V, an electrostatic latent image is formed.

Further, the developing section 4 is provided with a developing roller 13 made of a permanent magnet in a container 12 containing, for example, one-component magnetic toner 11. The toner 11 adhering to the surface is adjusted to a constant height by the doctor 14. Therefore, the toner 11 is charged to about +300V by the bias potential,
It is attracted to the low-potential latent image portion of the photoreceptor drum 1 and is visualized.

Next, the transfer section 5 includes a transfer charger 15, and a transfer paper 16 that is fed in the direction of arrow Q is inserted between the transfer charger 15 and the photoreceptor drum 1. It is sent in synchronization with the surface velocity while maintaining a constant interval. The transfer paper 16 is plain paper, but when it is unipolarly charged by the transfer charger 15, the toner 11 adhering to the photosensitive surface is peeled off and transferred to the transfer paper 16 by suction. A fixing device 17 exists in the conveyance direction of the transfer paper 16, and the toner 11 is completely fixed thereon.

Further, a fur brush 18 is used as the cleaning section 6, and excess toner 11 that has not been transferred to the transfer paper 16 is wiped away.

Further, the static eliminator 7 is composed of a fluorescent lamp 19,
Erase electrostatic afterimages. This completes one cycle of the electrophotographic process.

In such conventional devices, the six basic steps of charging, exposure, development, transfer, erasing, and cleaning are arranged along the surface of the photoreceptor.
This requires a large amount of space, and it also takes time for so-called row scanning to move the photoreceptor in each step.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to obtain an electrophotographic device that can be made smaller in size as a whole.

Summary of the Invention The present invention uses a photoreceptor in which a transparent substrate, a transparent electrode layer, and a photosensitive layer are sequentially stacked, and the photosensitive layer is formed into a drum shape or an endless strip shape with the photosensitive layer on the outside, and the photoreceptor layer is formed on the surface side of the photoreceptor. A developing section is provided, and a non-transparent guard is provided on the back side of the developing section, which is flat in the scanning direction.A light source is provided inside this guard, and a light source is provided to control exposure based on image signals. An exposure section including a shutter array is disposed at one end of the guard to receive light from the light source, and a static elimination section having an opening that irradiates the photoreceptor with light from the light source is formed at the other end of the guard. This is what I did. Therefore, the internal parts of the photoreceptor can be made smaller, which allows the photoreceptor itself to be made smaller, and the number of parts arranged around its outer periphery can be reduced, making the entire device smaller. It is configured so that it can be done.

Embodiment of the Invention An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. Components that are the same as those described with reference to FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted. As shown in FIG. 3, the photoreceptor 20 in this embodiment includes a transparent substrate 21 made of transparent tempered glass or various transparent polymer films, a transparent electrode layer 22 made of indium oxide, tin oxide, etc., and exposed to light. A photosensitive drum 24 is formed by sequentially laminating a photosensitive layer 23 selected from known photosensitive materials depending on the wavelength. The photosensitive layer 23 exists on the surface side of the photosensitive drum 24 .

On the surface side of the photosensitive drum 24, a charging section 2, a developing section 4, a transfer section 5, and a cleaning section 6 are arranged. Further, the photosensitive drum 2
A non-light-transmitting guard 25 is provided inside the developing section 4 and is flat in the scanning direction.A fluorescent lamp 26 as a light source is installed in the center of the guard 25. An optical shutter array 27 is disposed on the side to form an exposure section 28, and the other end of the guard 25 has an opening 29 aligned with the inner surface of the cleaning section 6 to form a static eliminating section 30.

In such a configuration, if an image signal voltage is applied to the optical shutter array 27, it will be exposed from inside, and the transparent substrate 21 and the transparent electrode layer 2 will be exposed to light from inside.
2, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive layer 23. At the same time as this electrostatic latent image is formed, it is developed on the front side, resulting in a two-step process at the same position. Furthermore, since the static eliminating section 30 is also present on the inner surface of the cleaning section 6, cleaning and removal of electrostatic afterimages are performed at the same position.

As described above, since the exposing section 28 and the static eliminating section 30 are arranged inside the photosensitive drum 24, the charging section 2, the developing section 4, the transferring section 5, and the cleaning section 6 are arranged on the outer periphery of the photosensitive drum 24. It is only necessary to arrange process parts, and arrangement is possible within a small space. Further, since the exposing section 28 and the developing section 4, and the cleaning section 6 and the static eliminating section 30 are located at the same position, the diameter of the photoreceptor drum 24 may be small, which shortens the distance in the row scanning direction and allows high speed can be converted into Furthermore, since the light source of the exposure section 28 and the light source of the static eliminator 30 can be the same fluorescent lamp 26, the structure of the parts to be arranged inside the photoreceptor drum 24 is simple and small, making it easy to incorporate them. , the photoreceptor drum 24 may also be small.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the present invention uses a photoreceptor in which a transparent substrate, a transparent electrode layer, and a photosensitive layer are stacked one after another, and forms the photoreceptor with the photosensitive layer on the outside in the shape of a drum or an endless strip. A developing section is provided on the front side of the image forming apparatus, and a non-light-transmitting guard is provided on the back side of the image forming apparatus, which is flat in the scanning direction. an exposure unit equipped with a light shutter array to be controlled is disposed at one end of the guard to receive light from the light source;
Since a static eliminating part is formed at the other end of the guard by an opening that irradiates the photoreceptor with light from the light source,
The internal parts of the photoreceptor can be made smaller, and as a result, the photoreceptor itself can be made smaller, and the number of parts arranged around its outer periphery can be reduced, making it possible to make the entire device smaller. It has the effect of saying that it can be done.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a conventional example, FIG. 2 is a side view showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion of a photoreceptor. 4...Developing section, 5...Transfer section, 20...Photoreceptor, 21
...Transparent substrate, 22...Transparent electrode layer, 23...Photosensitive layer,
26... Fluorescent lamp (light source), 27... Optical shutter array, 28... Exposure section, 29... Aperture.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Using a photoreceptor in which a transparent substrate, a transparent electrode layer, and a photoreceptor layer are stacked one after another, the photoreceptor layer is placed on the outside to form a drum shape or an endless band shape, and a developing section is provided on the surface side of the photoreceptor. At the same time, a non-light-transmitting guard is provided on the back side of the guard, which is flat in the scanning direction.A light source is provided inside the guard, and an optical shutter array is provided to control exposure based on image signals. A static eliminator is disposed at one end of the guard so as to receive light from the light source, and a static eliminator having an opening that irradiates the photoreceptor with light from the light source is formed at the other end of the guard. Photographic equipment.